Colbert’s tears. In a searing monologue, CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert broke down as he labeled President Trump a fascist.
■ See it here: “We all knew he would do this. What I did not know is that it would … break my heart.”
■ Colbert’s remarks were triggered by a Trump news conference so severed from reality that ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and CNBC all quickly cut away …
■ … although CNN and Fox News stuck it out.
■ PolitiFact rips apart the “election fraud falsehoods” Trump spewed over the course of 17 minutes.
■ CNN’s Daniel Dale: “I’ve watched or read the transcript of every Trump speech since late 2016. … I have never seen him lie more thoroughly and more egregiously than he did on Thursday evening.”
■ Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger tweeted afterward: “This is getting insane.”
Biden’s charge. Updating coverage: Joe Biden has taken the lead in key battleground states Pennsylvania and Georgia …
■ … where decisive votes came from a county long represented by the late civil rights icon U.S. Rep. John Lewis, one of Trump’s most vocal critics.
■ Vox has called it: “Biden has won. Here’s what comes next.”
■ CNN reports Fox News has ordered anchors not to call Biden “president-elect.”
■ Trump reportedly has no plans to concede.
‘Mesmerizing.’ That’s how historian Heather Cox Richardson describes “the unraveling of Trump’s plan to claim victory.” 
■ The Onion: “Trump Files Lawsuit In Pennsylvania Alleging Election Officials Totally Disregarding His Feelings.” (Cartoon: Keith J. Taylor.)
‘We need to not ever use the words socialist or socialism ever again.’ Comments leaked from a private Democratic congressional caucus conference call reveal profound anger over the party’s losses in the House.
■ Illinois Republican Jim Oberweis has claimed victory, but incumbent U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood says the mail-in vote will give her the win.
■ Nancy Pelosi is formally in the hunt for two more years as House speaker.
■ Twin runoffs in Georgia could determine control of the Senate.
■ Tribune columnist Mary Schmich channels the late Sen. John McCain in a memo from heaven.
A ‘rats’ orgy.’ The Trib’s Eric Zorn: Time to fix the patchwork of rules governing U.S. elections.
■ The ACLU hosts a live-streamed town hall this afternoon updating its nationwide “efforts to ensure that every vote gets counted.”
‘Terrible milestone.’ Gov. Pritzker reports the number of Illinoisans killed by COVID-19 has passed 10,000 …
■ … and he says the state may need to impose even tighter restrictions to reverse the surge.
■ Sun-Times columnist Maudlyne Ihejirika: “We have to face the greater likelihood … the virus could soon impact someone we love.”
Budget’s bitter Taste. Chicago’s COVID-crippled 2021 spending plan lacks any funding for the annual Taste of Chicago and Air & Water Show celebrations.
■ Mayor Lightfoot says the pandemic means now’s not the time to “be thinking about big, outdoor events” anyway.
■ The mayor’s found $10 million to fund $10,000 grants for restaurants and bars hamstrung by the pandemic.
Time’s up? A growing number of Illinois’ top elected Democratic politicians are calling on scandal-scarred House Speaker Michael Madigan to quit his job as head of the state party …
■ … but Madigan says he’s not budging.
Bear necessity. The second positive coronavirus test in three days prompted cancellation of the Bears’ Thursday practice.
■ Conceding failure in its “effort to weather the COVID storm,” ESPN is laying off 300 and cutting another 200 empty jobs
Another Chicago vote. Ballots are due by the end of the month in the local school council election.
■ When the city’s schools will reopen remains up in the air.
‘A tearful sendoff fit for a queen.’ Media critic Robert Feder recounts journalist Carol Marin’s farewell appearance on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight.
■ See it here.
■ NBC News weather guy Al Roker has prostate cancer.
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